Twilight of the Elves
by junistsantiago
Summary: When Thor returns to Earth with Loki, the Avengers are skeptical. Thor is insistent that Loki only wishes to apologize, but after Tony's pestering, Thor reveals the true reason for their return: something has gone missing from Asgard.
1. Chapter 1

"Why is he here, Thor?"

Tony Stark had spared no expense in the rebuilding of Stark Tower. This included, for some reason, multiple panic rooms. Loki thought it odd when Thor decided that it was the best place to house him.

_"We will put him here! In this metal cage!"_

_Tony rolled his eyes. "It's a **panic room**, Thor."_

Despite being trapped inside the metal cage, Loki could still hear the men arguing. It was faint; they were, perhaps, two or three rooms away but still audible. Heaving a sigh, Loki rested his head against the cold wall. His shoulders were beginning to ache from the manner in which Thor had chained him. Loki knew that it wasn't intentional. After all, Thor didn't want to cause his brother pain; he simply wanted to help him. From day one, that's all Thor had ever wanted. It was just that he didn't know his own strength.

"I can assure you, Captain . . . the tesseract is safe in Asgard."

"_How_ safe?"

"Loki is here, is he not? Not even _his_ trickery could reach Asgard from here. And Loki has learned his lesson. He apologized."

"And you _believe_ him?" Loki could hear the skepticism lacing Steve's voice.

A soft sigh followed - soft by Thor's standards. To those who didn't know him well, it sounded more like an aggravated horse.

"Yes, I believe him," Thor said. "He is my brother, adopted or otherwise. I believe that there is some good in him, Captain. He knows what he did was wrong - is wrong. He requested I bring him back to Earth. He _wants_ to apologize . . . to everyone."

"Well, you can tell him his apology isn't accepted. Not by me, at least."

There was a brief bout of silence and then -

"Steve, there's no reason to cry over spilled milk. After all, the party's just getting started. Can I make you a drink?"

A slow smile crept to Loki's lips. He was wondering when Tony would step in and say his piece.

"There's a baseball game tonight. It's the Mets against the Yankees. I have tickets for four and, unfortunately, Dr. Banner has informed me that he can't make it. Thor, why don't you go unchain your brother and have him tag along? I'll trust him when I see which team he cheers for."

"Tony, you can't be serious. You're going to let him into Yankee Stadium? There are women there - and children!"

"It's a good thing Captain America will be there to save the day then, won't it?"

Loki could hear footsteps approaching.

"And besides," Tony continued, "Loki is nothing without some sort of magic stick."

#

To his credit, Loki had remained silent the majority of the ride to Yankee Stadium. One of the few things he'd said had been a quiet, "Oh, please," at the third jab Steve had made. Tony shushed Steve after that. The air was then filled with the overlapping voices of Tony and Steve trying to explain to Thor what baseball was.

"There are nine innings in a baseball game," Tony began.

"Each team bats once per inning," Steve added.

Agreeing, Tony held up his glass of scotch. "The team stays at the plate until they get three outs. Three strikes and you're out. Four balls and you walk."

Thor seemed to follow until that point. "What are strikes and outs? To where are they walking?"

"The batter receives a strike if, after the pitcher throws the ball, they swing the bat and miss," Steve explained. "If they do that three times, the batter is out for that inning and another batter for the offense comes in."

Thor furrowed his brows. "Well, how do you win? A game is not a true game if there is no winner!"

"You win by making it around the bases. You make it around the bases by hitting the ball," Tony said. He took a sip of his scotch and then, almost as an afterthought, added, "And running."

"You silly humans!" Thor laughed. "On Asgard, we hunt for sport."

"Do you hunt squirrels for dinner?" Tony asked, his ice cubes clinking against the walls of his glass. Steve snorted; Thor didn't get the joke.

"Of course not! No squirrel could fill the stomach of a god. Sometimes we hunt trolls. Whoever knocks out the most wins a prize."

"Occasionally," Loki said, quietly, "we punt dwarves."

Tony and Thor burst into raucous laughter; the scotch in Tony's glass spilled over the rim and splashed onto his hand. While Steve seemed less-than-amused by the situation, he didn't completely snub the small smile that Loki offered him.

It was all weird to Steve. Not just the social situation, although that was odd, as well. He'd seen Thor in regular clothes before, but Steve had only ever seen Loki in his awful supervillain garb. But now, beneath the rays of sunshine and amongst the incessant cheering and booing, he looked normal. He had borrowed some of Tony's clothes and he looked good in them. Steve had never seen him so casual before, in jeans and an Avengers tee. Steve suspected Tony had purchased it so he could finally wear himself on a shirt and had found another use for it entirely: what seemed to be Loki's sole punishment.

There he sat. A god reduced to wearing the likenesses of his brother and sworn enemies on a shirt, eating a hot dog as calmly as a cow grazes in grass - unlike Thor, who was on the other side of Tony and was trying cotton candy for the first time.

"What is this magical, colorful cloud?" Thor was shoveling fistfuls of it into his mouth as Tony tried to explain the science behind electrified sugar. It was gone in an instant, leaving behind only the coil of white paper, which Thor violently threw to the ground. He made an emphatic motion toward the vendor, who was a few rows in front of them.

"Young man! I would like more!"

Steve leaned forward to address the vendor. "Please. He would like some more . . . please."

Thor smiled and gave a firm nod of affirmation.

#

"So, Loki . . ."

It was just Steve and Loki in Tony's expanse of a kitchen. Steve had his own place across the city but had chosen to stay at Stark Tower for the night. Loki knew they wanted as many pairs of eyes as possible, searching him for any signs of trickery or deceit.

_"It'll be just like a slumber party!" Tony clapped his hands together._

_Steve scoffed. "Were you dropped as a child?"_

_"Perhaps." Tony grinned. "But I'm **very** advanced for possibly having brain damage, aren't I?"_

_Thor sipped his beer slowly. "You humans throw a party every time you sleep? How did I miss that when we were traveling with SHIELD?"_

"Steven," Loki said, pulling at the plaid pajama pants given to him by Tony. "What is this material?"

"Flannel from the looks of it. Why?"

"It's uncomfortable is all, but I'm not here for my comfort." Loki forced a smile to his lips, staring down at the mug of coffee in front of him.

Steve shifted from foot to foot. "I have some cotton shorts in my bag, if you'd prefer those."

Loki glanced up from his cup of coffee, an eyebrow raised. "Steven - "

"Please, call me Steve."

"Okay . . . Steve. You didn't seem too fond of me a few hours ago."

"Yes, well." Steve set down his mug of coffee. "You _have_ managed to go a few hours without killing anyone, threatening to kill anyone, or releasing hordes of aliens into the heart of New York City to do your killing for you." He hesitated. "And Thor seems to believe that you've changed. We've had our issues, Thor and I, but in the end, he's always had my back. I trust him. He trusts you. I don't trust you, Loki, but he does and that's not nothing."

"What is it, then?"

Steve paused, picking up his coffee and taking a sip. "Let me get back to you on that."

#

"Is the door locked?"

"And the key thrown away," Tony said, descending the glass steps that led to his newly refurbished living room. "He'll be _fine_, Cap. Director Fury is on his way with Bruce."

Thor heaved an aggravated sigh. "Why did we involve the others?"

"Because, Goldilocks, I'm not completely convinced that the only reason you brought Loki back was so he could _apologize_." Tony crossed to his bar, pulling down five glasses from the cabinet. He began to fill them with ice cubes and scotch. "If he just wanted to say he was sorry, you could've sent a carrier pigeon - " Thor cut in to interrupt, no doubt trying to explain to Tony that they didn't have carrier pigeons in his homeland. " - or whatever it is you gods use to communicate. So, we're going to sit down, have a drink, and you're going to explain why you've decided to put my city back in danger."

Thor looked uncomfortable.

Tony shot him an expectant look, eyebrows raised. Thor sighed once more and Tony's expression changed to one of pride.

"You're always one to prematurely congratulate yourself, Tony," Steve said. "Maybe it's business for the Asgardians. Maybe we should leave it to them this time. Thor's taken care of Loki before."

"I hate to be the jerk in this situation," Tony began, crossing back to the couches and chairs with his scotch; he'd left the other glasses at the bar.

"But?" Thor's patience was not his strongest virtue.

Tony raised his eyebrows in acknowledgement, over the rim of his glass of scotch. "But last time Loki was here, it was Bruce who put him in his place. You can keep your secrets to yourself, Thor, but you'll be doing it on some other plane or dimension. You brought Loki here and you're not one of the bad guys." Tony gestured to the tall blonde with his glass of scotch. "There's another reason, and you're going to tell me. Or I can put on the suit and you can talk to Iron Man. Your choice, you gigantic Golden - "

"Mr. Stark."

"Ms. Potts! So wonderful of you to join us. Would you like a drink?" A smirk tugged at the corners of Tony's lips. Steve sunk into his chair with a slight groan.

"Director Fury and Dr. Banner are here. Shall I send them up?"

"Ah, yes. Thank you, Pepper."

Within a few moments, the couches in the room were full and four sets of eyes were directly on Thor. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, his eyes trained on Bruce.

"You're not going green, are you?" Thor asked.

Bruce smiled. "You tell me."

"Enough with the banter, boys." Nick stood, crossing his arms behind his back. He began to pace between the two couches and Tony shot Steve a look that said, _he__re we go_. "Thor, the last time Loki decided to open a portal and stroll on down to Manhattan, I was up to my eyes in shit from the Council. Now, I'm _not_ going to deal with that again, you hear? Either you give us a good, solid reason as to why you willingly brought Loki back to New York City, or I will eject him from this planet myself."

"Wow, the immigration laws have gotten pretty tight," Tony said.

"Zip it, Stark. I didn't come here at two in the morning to listen to your smart-ass remarks. This needs to be cleared up _now_ so I can politely inform the Council as to whether or not I'm assembling my Avengers."

"Your Avengers are already assembled, Fury," Tony said. "With a few exceptions. Speaking of, where are the other two?"

"There are a lot more missing than just two, Stark." Nick paused. "But since you asked, we haven't heard from Barton or Romanoff in around two months. If this matter is one that requires an elite team, I'll need to track them down. It's possible that Parker could be of some use to us now, too."

"_Parker_? Please tell me you aren't referring to that web-slinging bundle of spandex."

"Director Fury, if I may." Bruce scooted to the edge of his seat. "Perhaps this is a conversation better had in my laboratory. We can't very well kick Tony out of his own home, but we could relocate."

"There's no need," Thor said, standing to face Nick. "The Twilight of the Elves is no longer kept safe in Asgard."

There was a brief pause, in which the other men in the room exchanged glances with one another. Thor seemed to be waiting for some sort of appalled reaction.

Tony leaned forward. "Come again?"

"The Twilight of the Elves," Thor repeated.

"Yes, we gathered. What _is_ it?" Nick asked.

"It's a necklace."

"Pray tell, Rose, what happens if we don't go retrieve your precious necklace?" Tony asked.

"My brother and I are not the only ones who wish to possess it. If it ends up in the wrong hands, Asgard could fall. The necklace has been a part of Asgard for centuries. It was lost many years ago, but now there are others looking for it - and we finally understand the power of the necklace. It was given to my father as a token of trust and loyalty."

"By elves, I presume. Did they bring your father cookies, too?"

"Zip it, Stark."

"Yes, by the elves. The necklace holds immense magical power. Its wearer can cause the blooming flower to wilt or cause the wilting flower to bloom."

"Does this only work with flowers, or . . . ?"

"_Zip it_, Stark." Nick shot Tony a mean glare. "Thor, are you telling me that the wearer of this necklace has control over life and death?"

Thor nodded. "Yes, and we must find it before the fate of both Asgard and Earth are in jeopardy."

Steve shook his head adamantly. "Loki _suddenly _wants to find this necklace for a reason. Don't you see, Thor? He wants the necklace for himself! And it would be so much easier to retrieve if he had a team with strength and stamina to help him find it."

"His concern was genuine," Thor said, stepping closer to Steve as he spoke. "Director, Loki is the only one who knows where it is. It is of utmost importance to the safety of my home. As soon as the necklace is in my grasp, we will return to Asgard and he won't be of any further concern."

Silence enveloped the room.

"Fine," Nick said, after a brief pause. "But I want all eyes on Loki and I want constant updates on where he is, who he's with, and what he's doing. If he so much as spits, I want to know about it. Is that clear?"

"Babysitting Loki will be our pleasure, Director."

"Zip it, Stark. You four find the necklace, and I'll find Barton and Romanoff. I'll see myself out." Nick started toward the door but then stopped halfway and turned around. "And Stark - if I send Parker over, play nice. He's been a valuable asset while SHIELD has gotten itself back on its feet and I don't much feel like trying to explain that you're not always a complete jackass." Nick continued out the door.

"He's a child, Fury," Tony called after him. "I successfully privatized world peace! He just has his own private zip line!"


	2. Chapter 2

The group had disbanded hours ago. After Director Fury left, the remaining men had gone to bed. Tony had plenty of guest bedrooms to house the extra bodies. He felt safer knowing that Thor, Steve, _and_ Bruce were all in the same building as Loki. Of course, he could take care of Loki himself. He had Jarvis, after all. It was Pepper that Tony was worried about, but nobody had heard a peep from Loki since they'd returned him to the panic room.

This was the reason that Tony felt just fine with sitting on his roof, staring out at the skyline, sipping on some scotch. He'd had enough throughout the course of the night to be sufficiently tipsy. He had the majority of his wits about him, though; he was still sober enough to overthink. After the conversation with Director Fury, Tony had too many questions.

Where _were_ Clint and Natasha? Why had they disappeared? Were they together or had they each gone out on their separate missions? Why hadn't SHIELD been able to contact them? Perhaps there was something he could do to help...

Was the fate of Earth really at stake? Did Tony care whether or not Asgard fell? Of course he did. Thor was his friend, his brother - they'd fought together and, most importantly, won together. Tony couldn't let Asgard fall, even if he _was_ the only one standing by Thor's side.

But that was the problem. He was willing to stand by Thor's side; not by Loki's. What if Steve was right? What if it was just a ruse so Loki could get his hands on the necklace and finish what he started all those months ago? Sure, Loki had cheered for the Mets, but that didn't make him trustworthy. Would Thor really betray his comrades like that? No, he wouldn't. Tony was sure of that, which meant that if Loki was tricking the rest of them, he was fooling Thor, as well.

That wasn't the first time that'd happened, though. Tony had heard stories and had also witnessed firsthand the fighting between Loki and Thor.

"You have a lot on your mind."

Startled, Tony jumped, half of his scotch leaping from its container and sprinkling across the handle of the chair and the tiled floor.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you." Bruce sighed and sat in the chair opposite Tony, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. "I've been thinking. What if Steve was right?"

"I've been wondering that myself," Tony said, voice quiet. "I suppose only time will tell. For now, I think the best thing to do is just trust Thor. He knows what he's doing...I think."

Bruce smiled, a lopsided half-grin. "You seem skeptical."

"Of course I am!" Tony exclaimed; Bruce hurriedly shushed him. "Wouldn't you be?"

"Loki wasn't the problem," Bruce said. "He was really just there to act as a distraction from the aliens and as a roadblock, if you will, to the portal. Loki was - Loki was nothing."

"Don't underestimate him," Tony warned. "He threw me out of a window."

There was a moment of silence. Obviously Bruce hadn't realized that'd taken place.

"Bruce, if it came down to it, could you do it again?"

"Get angry?" Bruce questioned. "I'm always angry, Stark."

"No - defeat Loki. It was all you, you know."

Bruce shrugged his shoulders. "As long as I had just cause, sure. He's an annoying little prick, anyway, isn't he? Going on all the time about how he's a god and we're just weak humans. It's sickening. I don't have that kind of patience and neither does the other guy."

"It sounds like you already have just cause, Doctor." Tony let a smile cross his lips and then drained the remainder of the scotch from his glass.

#

Stories below, Loki laid on the cold metal of the panic room floor, unable to move his arms more than a few inches. Tony had seen to that with a pair of handcuffs. Steve had given him the pair of cotton shorts, just as he'd offered; they were a tad loose and, as a result, not very comfortable, but as Loki had stated earlier - he wasn't there for his comfort.

He had finally closed his eyes and started to drift off when he heard someone tugging at the panic room door. The mystery person finally tugged it open and stood in the threshold, staring down at Loki.

"I thought these things weren't supposed to open from the outside," Loki said, eyes scanning the length of Steve's body. It was a subtle motion and it went unrecognized by the other man.

Steve shook his head. "It was never locked." He shut the door once more and slid down to the floor, his legs outstretched in front of him. "Loki, can we trust you?"

"You can't ask _me_ that," Loki said, sitting up to face Steve, with some effort due to the fact that he couldn't properly use his arms. "I'm going to say you can - even if you cannot. I'm not exactly known for my truthfulness, am I?"

"So, you admit that you have an ulterior motive?"

"I would lie about that, too, wouldn't I? But I'm telling the truth about my lying, so perhaps I'm telling the truth about being able to trust me." Loki smiled and reached for Tony's flannel pajama bottoms, laying them across his lap. "I thank you for your shorts, but I fear you're quite a bit larger than I am."

Steve chuckled, relaxing a bit even though he _still_ wasn't sure if Loki could be trusted.

"Why are you here, Steve?" Loki asked, genuine curiosity blooming across the god's cherubic features.

"I want you to tell me about the necklace," Steve said.

"The necklace?"

"Yes," Steve said, hesitating slightly. Had Thor lied to them? "The Twilight of the Elves is what Thor called it."

"Oh, the amulet. Of course. It was given to Odin many centuries ago by the elves who reside near Asgard. We were on the brink of war. This was when the dwarves crafted Mjolnir and various other weapons for us to use in battle. But the King Elf feared the decimation of his people and came into a treaty with Odin, promising his allegiance until the end of time. Back then, it was very important that elves did not break their promises, and so the treaty was written in stone. The King Elf also gave Odin a token, the elves' greatest treasure - The Twilight of the Elves, an amulet that holds the power to both destroy and give life. It was never meant for use. It was crafted for war, not for corruption, but my father feared an attack on Asgard if anyone knew that the ownership had passed. He locked it away."

"If Odin locked it away, how did it get taken?"

Loki shifted on the floor, the cold of the room chilling his body. "Many years ago, there was a young soldier who was in Odin's employ. He had no interest in fighting for my father, and Heimdall allowed him to cross Bifrost without realizing that he had stolen the amulet. By the time Odin realized what had happened, it was too late; the boy was already on Earth. In the years before my fall from grace with the Allfather, I would travel to Earth and scout out the amulet. Thor did not understand what power the amulet could wield, but I studied the arcane arts and black magic so I knew its true worth. I always found it, but it kept switching hands, mostly in auctions."

"But you could never get to it?" Steve asked. "Couldn't you have just walked in and taken it?"

Loki nodded. "In theory, but I feared that if I returned to Asgard with the amulet, Odin would suspect that I had been behind the thievery all along. They don't call me the god of mischief because it has a nice ring to it, you know. Most of the things I do, even the truly valiant and noble things, are regarded with suspicion in my homeland. Thus, I've lived in the shadow of my brother all my life. He who is courageous and without flaw and I, who was always reprimanded for the smallest of things. I would have been a _great_ king, you know."

Steve felt a pang of guilt in his stomach. Maybe this was an instance of that; maybe Loki was just trying to do the right thing for his people, yet on Earth, they had immediately greeted him with doubt and opposition.

"I know how you feel," Steve said, after a brief bit of silence between the two of them. "Nobody thought I was good enough. I was sick and scrawny, and people said that if I joined the army, the first day in the field would be my last. But Dr. Erskine finally gave me a chance, and here I am."

"That's a lovely story," Loki said, without a hint of sarcasm in his voice. It seemed that he was being genuine in everything he was saying. "I'm sure you're wondering where the amulet is now, as well as who else is looking for it."

"That was my next question," Steve admitted. He was glad that he, at least, was getting somewhere with Loki. Obviously chaining him up in a panic room wasn't the answer.

"The King Elf passed recently and, unfortunately, treaties aren't always honored by a king's successor. His son, who is king now, has sent some of his best men to Earth to look for the amulet. Odin believes that if they find it, he'll start a war with Asgard."

"Unfinished business, huh?"

Loki smiled. "Exactly."

Reaching out, Steve gripped the chain between the cuffs and snapped it with ease.

#

Steve had fallen asleep in the panic room.

He awoke with a start, groaning due to the position he'd fallen asleep in. His shoulders were sore and there was an awkward crick in his neck. For a moment, he wasn't sure where he was.

But then he remembered his late-night conversation with Loki. Steve regarded him with a bit of sympathy as the other man began shifting, his sleep interrupted by Steve's motions and groan. How had either of them sleep through the night on the uncomfortable metal floor?

Even if Steve had to sneak, he would get Loki a real bed that night. It was only fair. He was, after all, back on Earth in order to save it. It only seemed right that he at least had a pillow. Steve glanced at his watch. It was nearly nine in the morning; he was sure that the others were up and moving around. He heaved himself up off the floor, with every intention of letting Loki continue to sleep.

"Where are you going?" Loki mumbled, pushing himself into a sitting position.

"To freshen up and get dressed, get a start to the day. You can go back to sleep, though." Steve frowned, wishing he'd been a bit more graceful about his own waking up.

"No, no. I should get up. I suppose I have a fair bit of explaining to do."

Within the hour, Loki and Steve were dressed and greeted Thor, Bruce, and Tony as they entered the living room, sitting down beside one another on the vacant couch. The five of them - the four of them, really; Loki didn't say much - chatted quietly as they ate their breakfast. Tony had sent Pepper out for McDonald's to avoid the time and effort of cooking. Once the last wrapper was in the bag, however, everyone's attention turned to Loki. He retold the same story he'd told Steve the night before with no variation; Steve remained quiet.

"Where's the amulet now?" Bruce asked.

"In an underground vault." Loki's words were cool and confident, made only more-so by the small smirk that played on his lips.

"Okay, whose underground vault? A vault can't belong to nobody." Bruce glanced around the room, looking for reassurance. "Right?"

"Nobody of significance, Dr. Banner, I assure you."

"We'd still like to know who we're stealing from," Tony said.

"The vault belongs to a prominent family in New York. We won't be able to simply go inside and access it," Loki said. "I would have just done so myself."

"Wait - " Tony began. "This vault doesn't belong to who I think it belongs to, right?"

"That depends on who you think it belongs to, Mr. Stark."

"Oh, my God," Tony groaned, leaning forward in his chair.

Steve and Thor looked at Tony in confusion.

"Look, Thor, I don't care how important to Asgard this necklace is - we can't steal from the Vanderbilts."

Thor glanced to Loki and then to Tony. "It's not stealing. The necklace is rightfully ours. It belongs to the Asgardians!"

"You can't just - it's the Vanderbilts! Even I have _nothing_ on the Vanderbilts. I _might_ have more money, but they're one of the most respected families in the nation. The government is already unsure if they should call us heroes or brand us terrorists. If _any_ of us steal from the Vanderbilt family, that decision is pretty much made for them."

"Tony's right," Steve said. "Even I know who the Vanderbilts are."

"Let's just wait for the other guys to steal it, then," Bruce said.

Everyone focused their eyes on Bruce.

"What?" Tony asked. "No - if Thor is right, that'll start another war, and Manhattan will spend another six months cleaning up."

"Well, we can't steal from the Vanderbilts and Thor can't just walk in and explain to them that he's a god from Asgard and the necklace is rightfully his. They'll look at him like he's crazy and throw him out. But if we let the enemy get it, then they're the ones doing the stealing and we'll be the ones doing the saving. It doesn't put our image in danger, since that's what you're so worried about," Bruce gestured to Tony, "and we can tell the Vanderbilts we don't know anything about a necklace. Thor and Loki can take it back to Asgard. Problem solved."

"No, problem _not_ solved," Steve said. "What if we can't stop these guys? What if they take the amulet back home and start a war with Asgard? We can't help up there. They'd be on their own."

"I agree - that won't solve the problem," Tony said. "Professor Snape has put us in a difficult position."

"My most sincere apologies," Loki said, and this time, his tone _was _snide. "We'll do it Banner's way. It might be risky, but I would rather not be the cause of more problems within your elite little group of superheroes."

"It's settled, then," Bruce said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have research to do in my laboratory."

"Yeah, no. It's fine. We'll just sit around, wait, and let the bad guy get the goods. There's not a problem with that at all," Tony said.

"Listen, Tony, you don't always get to call the shots," Steve said.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot that we were using _my _tower as a base of operations and _my _rooms to house a goddamn MONSTER."

Thor's fork clattered to his plate.

The room fell completely silent.

Bruce stood, wavering slightly, by the door he had been headed toward.

Loki glanced between Tony and Thor, wondering who was going to act first. It was all very interesting for him.

After all, he wanted them divided.


	3. Chapter 3

The room remained silent for what seemed like hours.

Tony stood, facing Steve, looking like a bull ready to charge.

Steve's face had hardened considerably; his 1940s nice-guy act had crumbled.

"Why do you say these things about my brother?" Thor asked.

Steve snapped first. "Because he's drunk, that's why. How much have you had to drink, Stark?" When Steve received no answer from the billionaire, he wheeled around to address Bruce, who was quietly shuffling towards the door. "I heard you two talking last night. How much has he had to drink?"

"I don't know," Bruce said, eyes cast down to the floor. "He was drinking when I got up there. He hasn't really, um, stopped. I don't think he's slept, either."

"You're a mess," Steve said, eyes trained on Tony again. "You've become the weak link. You've become the one person in the room who's unstable and might stab us in the back. It's not Loki anymore; it's you."

"Oh, my God!" Tony shouted. "What did he tell you last night that got you to swap sides so easily, Rogers? Huh? While you two were fucking in the panic room, did he tell you about all his daddy issues? How Thor was never a brother to him and Papa Smurf never cared enough? How he was always hidden in the shadows and never got his turn? What did he say that got_ you_ so twisted around?"

Bruce shifted uncomfortably and sidled closer to the door. The negative energy in the room was bringing an uncomfortable warmth to his skin.

"_His_ daddy issues?" Steve shouted back. "You're one to talk. All you ever do is mope about Howard!"

"You didn't know my father like I knew him!" Tony screamed.

"I knew your father better than you ever did! He was a great man with a brilliant mind!"

"He was cruel and unloving and I'm glad he's dead!"

Surprisingly, it was Steve who acted first, swinging a fist out and catching Tony right in the jaw. Tony crumpled to the floor.

"You're nothing without your suit, Stark," Steve said, brows furrowed in frustration. "You forget what we are here. Either you can stop drinking and get your head screwed on right, or I'll lead this operation from my apartment."

Tony pushed himself up off the floor. "You can't teach an old dog new tricks, Captain. What do you think Loki's going to do once he has the necklace? Do you think he's just going to zoom back to Asgard and return it to Odin and spend the rest of his immortal life guarding the damn thing? No. He'll unleash its power on New York City and God knows where else." Tony's voice dropped to a menacing whisper. "Think of how easy it would be to take over the world if he could just suck the life right out of us."

"You're _drunk_," Steve insisted. "You're being cruel."

"What do you know about cruelty, Steve? Everything's been given to you. You haven't had to work for _anything_. All the power, all the glory, all the fame - it was handed to you by a scientist."

"The darkest place you've been is your own mind, Stark!" Steve stepped closer to Tony. Intimidated, Tony stepped backwards and tumbled over the steps leading up to the bar.

"Jarvis?" Tony called.

Steve took a few steps, advancing towards Tony. "You don't know what war is like."

"Yes, sir?" Jarvis responded.

"Anytime, Jarvis."

"You don't know what it's like to be in a world you don't understand. You don't know what it's like to have to fight for your sanity every day," Steve continued.

"Yes, sir."

"You've never been the cause of the death of someone you loved and cared about." Steve's jaw hardened as he spoke, so focused on making sure he drove his point home to a drunken Tony that he didn't notice the red suitcase that zoomed past him.

"Steve," Thor said, rising from his seat.

Steve ignored him. "I don't want to hear that I haven't had to work for anything. My entire life has been a stru - "

It seemed that the red metal of Tony's suit wrapped around his body more quickly than ever before. The cold metal connected with the side of Steve's face before he could finish the thought, sending the man across the room.

"I'm sick of hearing you talk, Rogers," Tony said. "Loki is a threat and threats have to be eliminated." A beam fired from one of the repulsors in Tony's palm, aimed right at Loki's chest.

Due to the proximity, there was no way Loki had time to move.

It was Bruce who took the hit, stumbling in front of Loki with a, "Stark, we need him!" He barely had time to finish before he was flying backwards, joining Steve on the tile floor. Steve was still groaning and trying to push himself to his feet.

"Tony, you have to stop!" Thor called, but Tony wasted no time in firing off more beams, most of them missing his intended target. Loki had moved, darting across the room to near the large picture windows that served as a wall. If he had to throw Tony out of one again . . . well, so be it.

A rumbling came from behind one of the couches in the living room and Steve scrambled to his feet, backing so quickly into the back of the couch that he flipped over it and crashed into the coffee table. Thor rushed to help him up but was thrown back by the fist of a very angry Bruce Banner.

All large and green, Bruce charged at Tony, the painful beams from the repulsors acting as a mere irritation. One of his hands was practically half of Tony and he scooped the drunken playboy up, easily crushing the metal beneath his fingers. Tony let out a yell, doing his best to fly away, but Bruce reached down and ripped the bottom part of the armor off.

It scraped at Tony's skin, causing a small trail of blood to follow as Bruce ran for the window.

Loki sidestepped, although Bruce hadn't been aiming for him, anyway.

Glass shattered in every direction, embedding into Loki's bare torso. Steve took cover near the base of the couch. Thor simply put his arm over his eyes.

A silence enveloped the room, broken only by small bits of debris falling from the walls and the broken window.

Slowly, Steve pushed himself onto his feet, a trickle of blood slipping from his nose and down his chin. Tony had hit him hard.

"Maybe it's best you take my brother elsewhere," Thor said, his gaze traveling to Loki, who was picking small bits of glass from his side with sharp gasps. "Clean him up. I will find Bruce and Tony."

#

Steve's keys jangled as he unlocked his apartment door, opening it to reveal darkness and silence. Both of these were quickly diminished by the living room light and a soft thump as a cat jumped from the couch to the floor to greet Steve and the stranger he'd brought with him.

"He is quite large," Loki commented, not making any move to reach down and greet the thing. "What do you feed it?"

"Asgardians," Steve said, grinning and then grimacing due to the bruise rapidly overtaking the left side of his face. "We should take care of your chest."

"It's fine." Loki had picked out the glass in Tony's living room; by the time the cab back to Steve's apartment had cut through the busy New York City traffic, the bleeding had stopped, even though the pain hadn't.

"At least put some ice on it." Steve turned to go into the kitchen, but then stopped in the doorway. "And make yourself at home. I promise Oz doesn't bite."

"Oz?" Loki asked.

"Oh, yeah. The cat. His name is Oz."

"Right," Loki said, as Steve disappeared into the kitchen. Oz curled himself around Loki's feet and legs, purring contentedly. Loki was skeptical of the creature, unsure as to why it was so welcoming to a complete stranger. What if he'd meant harm to the cat's owner? Loki accepted the bag of ice when Steve returned, raising his eyebrows at the cartoon depiction of the Avengers on the front.

Steve shrugged, grinning behind his own bag of ice, which was pressed to his face. "It was all they had at the store."

#

"Tell me, little one. Where is the diamond?"

Anthony Russo was a large, tan expanse of a man, with hair that was graying around the edges and teeth that were yellowing faster than old paper. A frontmost tooth had been replaced by a sharp, silver fang. It was rumored that this particular tooth was removable and held a miniscule, but fatal, amount of poison.

"Why won't you answer me?"

Anthony was getting frustrated. His already thick Italian accent was becoming garbled with unintelligible, angry muttering.

"Someone get an answer out of this cunt." He gestured to the redhead tied to a large, wooden beam in the center of the room.

Natasha wasn't supposed to get caught; that wasn't part of the plan. And normally, she didn't. She was one of SHIELD's top agents. Her mind had been elsewhere, though. She'd been . . . distracted.

Actually, her being there wasn't a part of the plan, either. It hadn't been her intention to go after Russo alone, but Fury was unwilling to move in on him until he had definitive proof of nuclear weaponry. Natasha had been skeptical of the whole thing. Nuclear weaponry in Rome? That was preposterous - but the council had its suspicions and were waiting for the intelligence that would confirm the existence of such things.

But the intelligence got blown up in a bomb blast shortly before it was set to depart from Sicily . . . and its carrier was found drowned in the Platani River. If anything, that was an admission of guilt. They had something to hide.

Natasha had suffered some emotional trauma after the attack on New York City. Fury had recommended - no, insisted - that she take an extended vacation. She'd returned to SHIELD roughly three months ago and although Fury didn't have her pushing paper, he may as well have. He kept sending her on easy missions with Clint, ones that kept her within the parameters of the United States. She was fed up and their intelligence was lost.

She was going in.

Russo hadn't been expecting her and she _had_ killed six of his men, but there were plenty more where they came from. They came storming through the doors by the dozen and without any backup, Natasha was a sitting duck. She should have known they would figure out who she was, even though she lied about her name. Face recognition wasn't a foreign concept to Italians, especially ones who may have been sitting on nuclear weapons. They hacked into SHIELD databases easily enough, which is what tipped off Clint.

"Maybe we should just shoot her boss," came the suggestion of a gangly, tall Italian with a gross scar across his cheek.

"She's no use to me if she's dead," Russo argued. "I need to know where the diamond is."

"I don't know anything about a diamond," Natasha said, struggling against the ropes that bound her. There was no way she was getting undone. She had no weapons and her feet were bound as firmly as her hands; her wrists were bleeding from the friction as she struggled. "Please, I'm just a tourist! I just wanted to see Sicily."

"Ms. Romanoff, don't think you can fool us so easily. We know about your government work. We know about the Avengers Initiative. And the man you answer to knows about my diamond."

"Just because Fury knows about the diamond doesn't mean that I do," Natasha grumbled through gritted teeth, pulling at the ropes once more.

Russo scoffed. "Peter, get her some water. We leave her for the night. It is storming out, yes?"

"Yes, sir." The man with the scar stood. "Supposed to storm until early tomorrow morning."

"Good." Russo nodded. "Open the roof and raise the beam. We'll see if she talks after the storm has its way with her."

#

"May I ask you a question?"

"I suppose," Steve said, lifting a mug of coffee to his lips and taking a slow drink. He made a face, which caused Loki to chuckle. The hours had passed into evening. New York was busy outside Steve's apartment; rain pattered against the window. "Do you think they're okay?"

Loki laughed. "I asked if I could ask the question."

"I know," Steve smiled, but it was slight and sad.

"I don't know to whom you are referring," Loki responded, after a short pause. "Some clarification may be necessary."

"Bruce, Tony, Thor, Clint, Natasha - everyone." Steve looked concerned.

Loki shrugged, his bony shoulders covered by the blue-and-white checked print of one of the many button-ups that Steve owned. "Thor is fine. I'm sure Bruce and Tony are, as well, as Thor hasn't come knocking down your door to form a government search party."

"What about the others?"

Loki scoffed. "I don't know. I don't care." He paused, seeing the sadness in Steve's eyes. "But I'm sure they're fine. If they weren't, you would know. This I am sure of. Now, may I ask you a question?"

"Yes, sorry." Steve set aside his mug of coffee, which had grown grossly cold, and directed his attention to Loki.

"What do they know of you? You know, all of your _Avengers_. Do they know anything about you at all?"

Steve looked surprised by the question, caught off-guard by the sincerity of it. "Uh, well . . . I don't really like to talk about the past. That's the best way to forget about it."

"Would you let me in?"

"I don't understand."

Loki moved closer, to close the gap between the two of them, his pale fingers threading through Steve's hair. "Let me in."

A nervous chuckle escaped Steve's lips. "No . . . I - Loki - What are you doing?"

"Shh," Loki whispered, leaning closer, his nose nudging Steve's. "Let me in."

Their lips connected in a kiss. Steve froze but didn't stop Loki from sidling gracefully into Steve's lap as if he did this every day. Their tongues met and Steve reacted, tilting his head to add depth to their kiss.

Loki's fingers twisted harshly in Steve's hair and a jolt of pain rushed through Steve's head, causing him to cry out and pull away.

Loki jerked him back forward. Before roughly smashing their lips together, he whispered, "Just trust me."


End file.
